Eye sore of the week

Architecture critic Amanda Harrell-Seyburn says: Car
dealerships, like gas stations, arrived on the architecture scene for
the first time in the last century. Dealerships like this one with flat
roofs and extensive parking are hard to re-imagine as anything but. Yet
dealerships could, by design, transform into substations for pumping
alternative energy back onto the grid. It’s not unheard of for large
parking lots to be converted as a home for wind turbines and solar
arrays.

The former Metro Ford dealership on Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard is going downhill quickly. The building was a featured
Eyesore of the Week four years ago, but continued neglect by the
building’s owners has given way to nature and vandals.

In the last several months, graffiti, runaway plant growth
and a shattered showroom window have sunk the longtime eyesore to even
lower levels of social blight. Specifically, that giant, gaping maw of a
former window seems like an open invitation to both trespassers and
wildlife.

A supervisor at the Tim Hortons next door, who asked that
her name not be used, said she’s not concerned about problems at the
building, though, because “the cops hang out here all the time.” Score
one for fortuitous coffee and doughnut shop location.

“Eyesore of the Week”
is our look at some of the seedier properties in Lansing. It rotates
each week with Eye Candy of the Week. If you have a suggestion, please
e-mail eye@lansingcitypulse.com or call Andy Balaskovitz at 999-5064.